Lugubrious

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Smash Bros Crossover)

Dead Zone Hinterlands - Curien Mansion

Harry’s @Eviledd1984 Amaterasu’s @DracoLunaris Chosen Undead’s @Simple Unicycle Level 11 Big Band (27/110)
Word Count: 1653

Given the sheer scale of this overwhelming eerie mansion, and the fact that this place had already coughed up one multi-armed abomination, Big Band was pleased as punch when the surprise knight ventured his name and offered to lend his help. No longer a stranger, and having already proven his skill, Kit received an appreciative nod of acceptance. “Glad to have ya. The name’s Big Band, and this…” He laid down a giant brass arm on Harry’s shoulder as gently as he could. “Is the Icebreaker.” He pronounced the nickname with a certain amount of dramatic gravitas, just shy of being satirical. Having a codename of his own, he couldn’t get too facetious without throwing a brick in a glass house.

Half-turning around, Band quickly took stock of the team. With Kit on board alongside the Icebreaker, the wolf, Stein, and himself, the team was up to just shy of a half-dozen members, which was about as good a posse as Band could hope for. “With all five of us on the job, those kids’ll be back to their mommas and poppas by sundown. Long as we ain’t barkin’ up the wrong tree, that is.” Stein’s Metal Attacker had made one hell of a racket, as well. Without backup to secure a perimeter around the mansion, Band could only hope that they hadn’t already scared Heismay off.

The squad proceeded into the foyer. Thanks to the Atom, the towering bookshelves had sustained some damage, with wooden shrapnel and shredded pages scattered all over. Between the rows, Band identified four doorways leading further into the mansion’s ground floor, one on each side wall and two on the back wall, all symmetrical. All were closed, and while he couldn’t tell if they were locked, he knew they’d be even easier to unlock than the front gate if they were. Band had just taken his first step onto the central stairs to check the upper level, prompting a loud creak of protest when the wood shouldered his weight, when Harry belted out an announcement. After wincing, Band’s face gave way to bemusement at the other detective’s real name. Obviously he hadn’t given his away either, but as far as he was concerned Big Band was his true identity, and the only name anyone needed to know. Was Harry’s earlier introduction just grandstanding…?

Regardless of what Harry said, though, only a resounding silence followed his declaration. Band couldn’t say he was surprised; what kind of kidnapper would show his face to talk things over. “Psh,” he muttered after a moment. “So much for the Icebreaker, eh?” That said, he did have to admit that Harry had well and truly broken the ice. The problem with that was that breaking the ice was an ultimatum, and the next step after that was either sink, or swim. “Well, if he didn’t hear us comin’ before, he definitely heard us now.”

Unlike the humans, who had yet to see or hear any more clues or threats, Amaterasu was close to experiencing sensory overload. Even just this foyer was a smorgasbord of smells, criss-crossing one another in confusing scent trails leading mostly between the various doors or up and down the stairs. She could detect the odors of a couple animals, such as frog, bat, and insect -that last one much heavier than she’d expect for such a small creature- as well as the rotten stink of zombies, but there were plenty of scents like nothing she’d ever smelled before, most of them bad. Through all the olfactory noise she could detect at least one human other than the ones she’d entered with, though. It was unfamiliar, male, and musty with age. It came from upstairs, sporadically enough to make her wonder if its source had fallen down those steps, then slowly, methodically led through the door on the right.

While Amaterasu nosed around, Band checked in with Stein, who’d stopped close to the entrance of the foyer with arms crossed. “You’re comin’ with, right?”

The conductor shook his head. “Don’t wanna leave Tesset alone, even if she’s got Atom and Mr. Mug.” He glanced back to see his girl and her little bear companion wave, prompting him to wave back at them. “Don’t want Heismay to slip around you and escape out the front, either. I’ll cover the entrance and make sure nothin’ gets in or out. Just yell if you need me.”

As the two spoke, Amaterasu’s keen ears picked up a different sound: the patter of very light feet, accompanied by quickened breathing, coming from the left-hand upstairs door. It was soft enough that none of the others could hear it, but it was quickly getting louder. The next moment it crossed the threshold, but the door itself didn’t open, even after the sound of footsteps continued inside the foyer. A series of quick, barely-audible creaks issued from the stairs, but neither the wolf nor the men could see anyone, and nobody noticed anything amiss until Harry -still waiting for a response from Heismay- suddenly lifted into the air.

Still turned back, Band didn’t realize what was happening until Harry made a sound, at which point the detective was already being hauled away. Lifted and grasped by unseen arms, he flew backward up the stairs, powerless to resist. “What!? Hey!” Band charged up the stairs, his legs taking the steps two at a time, but his mechanical frame was much too slow. Before he even reached the halfway point, Harry had slammed through the left upstairs door and disappeared into the mansion. “Hold on!” he yelled as the man’s voice faded from sight, hoping that Kit and Amaterasu could give better chase. “We’re comin’ after you!”

For Harry, of course, the experience was more than a little terrifying. The thing carrying him moved like the wind, fast as an Olympian sprinter, and while his captor could hold him, it seemed completely incorporeal otherwise. The detective had been kidnapped by a ghost. He could do little more than pull his arms and legs in to avoid painful collisions with walls, furniture, and doorframes as they rushed by. The whole time he could hear the thing in his ears, chuckling oafishly like a child who’d just stolen some sweets. “Huhuh! Huhuh! Huhuh! Huhuh!”

It would be difficult, but still possible, to keep track of the rooms as he got carried through them. He passed through a living room with a roaring fireplace, a dining room, a kitchen, a large bedroom with floating beds, and various halls before being rushed down a set of stairs. One narrow corridor later, his captor took a right and charged down another set of stairs into the mansion’s basement. At that point, though, the wild ride came to an end. The ghost slowed down and released Harry, at which point it filled the room with heavy, labored panting, so intense that it might as well be asthmatic. After a few seconds the gasping grew fainter, as if the ghost were staggering away to rest, and Harry was left to his own devices.

He’d been deposited in some sort of study, just one room with an adjoining bathroom, so the only way out was the way he came from. There was nothing getting in his way, but one look around was enough to realize that this place was loaded with valuables. The shelves and tables in here featured several jade plates and cups, a golden pocketwatch, an expertly made ocarina, and what looked like a diamond the size of his fist. It also featured a black-and-gold vase almost as tall as he was, a huge painting of a skull, and a ticking grandfather clock that all must be worth a fortune, if they could only be extracted from here in one piece.

Elsewhere in the mansion, the others were still giving chase. With no idea where in this posh labyrinth Harry had been taken, Band and Kit had no choice but to follow Amaterasu and trust in her nose as she pursued the faint but unforgettable pong of Harry that lingered in the very air. Bringing up the rear, Band thundered through a living room, pausing only to avoid a blinking landmine, then turned left and pushed through a narrow hallway. It opened up a moment later, making Band think he could gain some speed with a musical slide, but the next second he ground to a halt instead, stopping just short of a yawning, pitch-black pit that divided the rectangular room in two. A single plank of wood stretched across the chasm, easy for Amaterasu to patter across and carefully traversable for Kit, but Band didn’t think for one second that the plank would bear his weight. “Damn.” The ceiling in here was too low for him to rocket across, and one double jump was nowhere near enough to clear the gap. The hell is this house? He shook his head, nose wrinkled, and called after the others. “Y’all go ahead. I’ll find another way!”

With a frustrated grunt he turned back the way he came, stopping at the four-way intersection bordering the living room. That gave him two options, but one looked like some kind of sauna, so he opted for the cobweb-covered hallway instead. It led him through a two-story library with a staircase leading up to the mansion’s third floor, and right after that Band stopped on the precipice of a large square room with another huge pit, this one in the center. He edged his way around it to the door on the left, took a few steps into a bedroom, and realized it was a dead end. “Damn it!” He turned to retrace his steps and try the next door in the room with the pit, then froze at the sight of a pale mannequin figure half-visible in the shadowy doorway, motionless except for the twanging bob of its coil.

Meanwhile, Amaterasu and Kit reached a kitchen with golden goblets on the counter that gleamed in the glow of the dangling overhead lights. Unfortunately, this kitchen was occupied. Hidden at first behind the counter, a freaky frog hopped into view, spotted the newcomers, then pulled out bloody cleavers with a smile. While the wolf could sprint out of danger, it would be much harder for Kit to avoid the chef’s flailing leap, and harder still to not get turned around by the encounter.

Umbra Rose Condos

I've more or less been waiting for either of the people my character was with to be posted for, or for the scene to move on via GM. If this is the end of the road though, I do want to say it was a fun concept and I enjoyed playing my character with you guys.

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Smash Bros Crossover)

Paved Wilderness - Scorched Gorge

Lvl 15 Ms Fortune (62/150) and Chucho the Polterpup
Roland’s @Archmage MC Therion’s @Yankee
Word Count: 1960

Even if the well-traveled, sun-baked road was a little bumpy, with plenty of cracks and its fair share of potholes, the experience of simply watching the environment roll by from the comfort of a vinyl barstool was nothing to scoff at. The magnificent painted desert, rolling plains, and enormous buttes, interspersed with scrubland-clad serpentine rivers that shone like diamonds in the afternoon sun, possessed a beautiful grandeur, especially for a city-bound alley cat who’d missed her chance to see the Sandswept Sky in all its glory. At the same time, the sheer scale of the Paved Wilderness meant that the surroundings changed slowly, with only the occasional shack or race track to break up the peaceful monotony.

That meant that staring off into the distance for minutes at a time, especially with the trailer’s toastiness and the engine’s growly purr, was a rather soporific experience, and Nadia soon found herself struggling to stay awake. “Hooh…” she sighed, leaning more and more on the bartop as her eyelids drooped. “Guess I’m more tired than I thought…” All this dry air was making her thirsty, too, and the more her eyes rested on all the bottles of booze stocked by the semitruck’s onboard bar, the more she licked her lips. The felonious feline managed to reign in her base impulses, though; given how risky it must be to pick up a hitchhiker, how could she possibly think to repay the driver’s kindness by stealing from her? Her mind began to conjure up images of Limsa Lominscuttle Town, especially Heaven’s Edge, with a whole ocean’s worth of cool, refreshing water to soak in followed by a round of free drinks from Karin Kanzuki afterward, all shared with Ace of course. As she imagined paradise, her eyelids’ gradual descent turned into a headlong plummet, and Nadia passed out.

“Hey. Hey. He-eeey.”

The feral jolted awake suddenly, almost falling out of her stool before she remembered where she was. While its engine continued to putter idly, the Steeltusk had stopped, and before Nadia unfurled a network of red rocky canyons littered by rotund barrel cacti and uniquely crooked Joshua trees. All the heat around here was making the air swim, but no matter how surreal they looked, the wildlife the cat burglar saw were no mirages. She witnessed half-racks of ribs that crawled through the crevices like centipedes, mothlike puffs that left trails of cheesy dust as they flapped their crispy orange wings, and peppery scorpions with red-hot stingers. Nadia had to rub her eyes to make sure she wasn’t dreaming.

“Welcome to Scorched Gorge,” a familiar tired, reedy voice said. Nadia looked down to see the little truck driver staring up at her. Her eyes were impossibly world-weary for how old she looked, which was more than a little off-putting. Still, Nadia had reached her destination in one piece (or at least, with all her pieces together) so she could hardly raise any objections. The girl crossed her arms. “I had to poke you a good five or six times. You sure you’re okay, miss?”

Nadia wiped the drool from her lip with the back of her hand, then gave her most reassuring smile. “Yeah yeah, I’m good! Just dozed off or somethin’. Thanks ‘fur’ the ride!”

“Uh huh. Whatever you say, kiddo. Well, if you need anything, the name’s Piper. Gimme a call.”

Seemingly unconvinced, the driver stepped away, and Nadia hopped down from the truck to the dusty ground. Chucho followed, almost invisible in the bright sunlight. The catgirl took a few steps away, looking around, then reached up to her ear. She’d honestly forgotten about the linkpearls for a while, but hearing from Therion earlier reminded her, so now seemed like a good time to repay the favor. “Hey guys! I’m at the place, and I gotta say, it’s Scorched Gorge-ous. Might, uh, need a ride back though. So when you’re done checkin’ out that other spot, don’t forget to pick me up, or I’ll take it purr-sonally!”

She’d already spotted Roland and Therion’s destination on the other side of all the canyons. Tall, blocky, and gray-brown in tone, the Refinery stuck out like a sore thumb amidst all the pristine natural beauty. Her sharp eyes could make out a strange, dark-red sigil plastered on the side of one of the buildings. She couldn’t see any people or vehicles from this distance, but the fumes billowing from its four smokestacks suggested some kind of activity.

“If you’re meeting friends near here, I reckon you all oughta stay away from that factory,” the truck driver advised.

Nadia swiveled her head back around to see the girl seated at her own bar, a glass full of ice and murky brown liquid in her hand. Both were momentarily affronted -Piper by Nadia’s 180-degree head turn and Nadia by Piper’s premature alcoholism- but after a moment both managed to get over one another’s eccentricities. The feral turned her body around sheepishly. “Uh, why?”

“I hear there’s some real odd folks ‘round there. Strange critters, too. The kind you hear, but can’t see, not ‘til they’re already breathin’ down the back of your neck.”

Despite the heat, a chill ran down Nadia’s spine. Which she thought was honestly weird, given all the horrific things she’d already seen and overcome. “I’ll let ‘em know, but we can look after ourselves. Besides, what if there’s treasure there?”

Piper blinked. “Treasure?”

Nadia nodded enthusiastically. Since the girl had done her a favor, she didn’t mind sharing even if it meant a little more competition. “Yeah! The whole region’s gone crazy over this big scavenger hunt some shipping company started after they lost their cargo. Turn in their loot, and you could win big! That’s why we’re out here.”

“Huh! Well, I’ll be.” Piper scratched her chin lazily. “Guess I’ll let the others know when they get here. Thanks, kid.”

Already regretting her choice somewhat due to the trucker’s patronizing tone and the prospect of even more competition, Nadia moseyed away with Chucho right behind her. Once she reached the nearest precipice, she began to survey Scorched Gorge with narrowed eyes, searching for anything that might have come from the crashed freighter. Fortunately, it didn’t take long to locate a sphere of compressed salvage almost as tall as she was, but unfortunately, it somehow seemed to be perfectly balanced on top of a sheer rocky spire. The feral did a double take, baffled. “Huh? How does that happen?” Chucho didn’t have any answers, though, so Nadia had no choice but to roll her eyes and head on over.

After jumping down into the canyon, she meandered through it at a leisurely pace, preoccupied by scattered pieces of what seemed like ancient ruins. She stopped a couple times to pick through skeletons or pieces of prehistoric pottery for anything valuable, and during one such perusal Chucho seemed to catch a scent on the wind that intrigued him. “Chuch? Where ya goin’, boy?” He floated out of sight, and when Nadia followed him, she found a bizarre plant with bright pink flowers and huge orange stamens that looked like bottles more than anything else. Curious, she pulled one off and sniffed it. It looked like a fruit, but it smelled…spicy?

Just then, a strange noise caused her ears to perk up. Nadia peered up at the nearby canyon wall to find two Ribblepedes staring at her. “Whoa!” Reacting instinctively, she jumped back and hurled the fruit at them. It struck the bigger one and burst into bright orange liquid, coating it, and the smaller one promptly dove at the other, causing both to plummet down to the canyon floor and roll away in a heap of scrabbling, bonelike limbs. No longer alarmed but instead mildly concerned, Nadia watched them tussle, absently licking at some of the fluid that had spattered on her knuckle. She immediately blinked in surprise–it was hot sauce! “Weird…but cool!” Nadia turned to continue on her way, a little faster and more situationally aware than before.

After another minute, she reached the spire. At only around thirty feet tall, Nadia figured she’d have no problem reaching it, but before she could get started she ran afoul of the wildlife again. This time she noticed the checker-shrouded creature well before it reached her, thanks in part to the noise it made. “Bunger, bunger, bunger!” it hollered, charging on curly-fry legs with curly-fry tusks extended.

Smirking, Nadia stood her ground, then leaped up as it charged and somersaulted onto its back. Surprisingly sturdy, the BBQ Bunger bore her weight but went into an immediate frenzy, running this way and that as it tried to buck its passenger off. “Yee-haw!” Nadia laughed as she held on, her tail and arms extended for balance. Only when the Bunger tried to ram into a rocky outcropping did she crouch down and sink her claws in to brace herself. The next moment the critter slammed into the stone and stunned itself, ripe for Nadia to finish the job. “Think fast, food!” She detached her tail, tossed it up like she saw Zenkichi do with Ragnell, then flipped up to catch it and slash down. Hardened like a blade, her tail neatly cut the Bunger into halves, its googly eyes becoming spirals as sweet, savory barbecue sauce eked from within.

Nadia hesitated for a moment, her arms on her hips, then shook her head. “Okay. I gotta know.” She ran over to the nearest river to wash her hands -better than nothing, right?- then carved out a portion of the BBQ Bunger to stuff in her mouth. Much to her delighted surprise, it was identical to an actual barbecue burger. Of course, she’d already eaten plenty of burger for lunch, so Nadia only helped herself to a little bit of the bugsnack’s body before it began to dissolve. But even that was enough to metamorphose the feral’s right arm into something altogether unnatural.

“...AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!”

Even after the initial panic wore off, Nadia’s heart pounded as she queasily tried to come to terms with what had happened. Most of her right arm had been replaced by appropriately large, spring-shaped curly fries, approximating the original limb. Her fingerless glove had been replaced by checkered wrapper, and strips of bacon had replaced her fingers. She flexed them experimentally, aghast. “Okay…okay. You are what you eat, I guess?” As she wondered how feasible it would be to trick Juri into eating bugsnax, Chucho sniffed at her hand, prompting her to jerk away, horrified. “Knock it off! I’m not a hamburglar!” The bigger issue was the salvage, since she no longer had claws on her right hand to climb with, and her grip was woefully greasy. Ever inventive, however, Nadia found a solution: she could extend her new limb like a spring in order to grab onto better handholds. Doing roughly the same with her other hand via muscle fiber and pressurized blood, she managed to scale the spire, reach the salvage, and push against it with her shoulder until it rolled off and fell down into the canyon below.

“Alright!” Nadia gave Chucho a high five, then winced. Only when she finally began to consider her next step did she realize her much, much bigger problem: how in the world she’d be getting that loot wherever it needed to go. “Oh, hell…”

Things were decidedly less whimsical, though, over by the Refinery. Neither Roland nor Therion saw any signs of life as they drew closer, but the whole place was locked up tight, practically a citadel of concrete, stone, and metal with only a few heavy, reinforced doors and no exterior windows anywhere near the ground floor. All the doors featured mechanical deadbolts sealed by keycard access, invulnerable to conventional lockpicking. Outside of the ability to fly or scale shear walls, the only possible means of ingress seemed to lie at the end of tire tracks: a heavy garage-style segmented door that safeguarded some sort of loading bay, kept in place by the weight of the door itself. While the newcomers couldn’t see anyone, they could see old-fashioned security cameras, so even though their approach garnered no response, it felt like someone was watching.

Paved Wilderness - Northwestern Wastes

Edward’s @DracoLunaris Blazermate and Sectonia’s @Archmage MC Zenkichi’s @MULTI_MEDIA_MAN Juri’s @Zoey Boey

When Zenkichi, Sectonia, and Blazermate arrived from the sky to assist the Mammoth and its occupants against the gang of Locust marauders, the battle began to swing in the Coalition’s favor, but not without a heaping helping of confusion. The Gears didn’t know who these newcomers were or what their intentions might be after all, and when more fighting broke out atop and even inside their vehicle, the skirmish became even more of a scramble than before. The situation in the Mammoth was helter-skelter, with rapidly changing and often conflicting orders dividing the troopers’ attention between the assailants outside, the unidentified infiltrator wrecking havoc, and keeping the giant machine running at all.

Things were even more chaotic among the units of the Locust assault force, scattered around their target and presented with multiple new bogeys. Wheeling around to try and deal with Sectonia or Zenkichi guaranteed that the COG war machines would gun them down, while not addressing the new threat practically guaranteed a crash into the bug queen’s summoned swords. The dangerous but clumsy choppers got picked off quickly, while the slow Bloodmounts made easy targets. Prowlers and Reavers were more flexible, but as the Locust rapidly dwindled it became clear that victory would be a pipe dream. The retreat order was given, and the last Prowler -which happened to be the newest into the fray- broke off to flee through a swampy ravine. Reavers zoomed away in different directions, and the battle concluded with a decisive victory for the Coalition.

Of course, reports quickly reached the Mammoth’s crew chief about the theft committed during the chaos. Eyewitness accounts described a maniacal woman who fought and defeated veteran Gears barehanded. They said that she shrugged off Gnasher slugs like one might swat flies, then warped away through some kind of magical wormhole, taking all the Ficsit cargo they’d recovered with her. With no sign of the fugitive, the chief could do little but order the Mammoth to be stopped to recover the damaged vehicles. One of the Centaurs had been totaled, but the LAV had enough horsepower to drag the wreck back inside so that salvage and repair could begin in earnest.

If Zenkichi and the others expected to receive medals of honor for their help, though, they would come away disappointed. The troops remained standoffish with them, unconvinced of their motives and suspicious of their involvement with the inexplicable theft. At the same time, though, the woman barking at them through the Mammoth’s loudspeaker tried to downplay the deed with a braggadocious tone, saying, “That stuff we lost? Psh! Small potatoes compared to the haul we took in this morning, and the haul we’re headed toward now! You pipsqueaks wanna see some real action? Follow along and you’ll get to see what happens when we turn this BFG on Sweet Tooth’s circus! Hoorah!” With that, the Mammoth got moving again, headed east with its sights set on a much, much bigger target: the Carnival of Carnage.

Of course, unless Edward’s scout drones were listening in, he and Juri were too occupied by their own payday to catch wind of the COGs’ plans. With just a little finagling, the red chests they finessed from the Mammoth’s hold popped open like trophy cases, proudly showing off the three firearms contained within each.

Juri’s Chest

Items obtained:
Hexagun
Created by a vengeful Gunjurer, the stock is formed from what was once his staff, and each piece of metal was enchanted thrice before assembly. In the hands of a mystic, its rounds have the chance to transmogrify targets. A semiautomatic precision rifle that fires extremely fast, piercing arcane rays. It comes with 75 magic rounds, but it’s single-shot and takes 1.2s for an expert to reload. With a horn instead of an actual scope, it demands exceptional aiming ability. Can be replenished via universal/long gun/sniper pickups
Akjagara
The design of these hard-hitting dual pistols is a mix of organic and bladed elements. A pair of burst-fire bladed double-barreled handguns that deal Slash damage, both firing a bullet simultaneously per burst. 210 ammo max, magazine is 36, fire rate is 5 per second, reload time is 2.25s in an expert’s hands. Can be replenished via universal/handgun/secondary pickups
TX-41 Sterilizer
More or less a flamethrower for caustic chemicals. Comes with 4 canisters, each of which can sustain 10 full seconds of sterilization in a wide cone. Its DPS is middling, but its blinding and slowing effects sow confusion, making it a powerful (and painful) crowd-control tool. Can only be replenished by universal ammo pickups

Edward’s Chest

Items obtained:
Beehive
A hive with 300 bees in it. Shaking it will dispense 10 bees per second that slowly home in on targets to sting them. If there are no targets, they will slow down and land until targets enter their range. Can only be replenished via universal ammo pickups
Odden’s Pinky
Odden Hammerite's brutal pyre-forged weaponry must be charged before firing. Once this machine wand spools up, it can spit out a cascade of empowered spell bullets, 10 per second. 18-round mag, 1.2s reload time, short effective range. Comes loaded with Destruction I spell bullets. Can only be replenished by crafted spell bullets, and only works in the hands of a magic user
Hurtsall 2K
An assault rifle capable of putting out 10.67 per second, with a reload time of 2s, a 40-shot mag, and 27 m effective range, with only light recoil. A solid and dependable workhorse, its only downside being its weight. Can be replenished by universal/long gun/assault rifle pickups

Once the skirmish with the Mammoth ended, the Seekers had to pack up and move on. With Edward’s drones performing reconnaissance, those still headed toward Highertower got enough of a lay of the land to plot out an effective route. Beyond the boggy badlands lay a biome of oil, tar, and silt, bruised black and blue by untold years of excavation and extraction to fuel the Paved Wilderness and lands beyond. The flatter areas had been turned into sprawling oilfields, while the more mountainous parts were an oil-rich ecosystem all their own, where there dwelt bizarre lifeforms touched by the strangeness of the Outback down south, like colorful Muk, quiet Lurkers, and predatory Rompopolo. It wasn’t an ideal route, but with half of the biome ablaze in an infernal Firespring that filled the sky with smoke, it was better than the alternative. Passing through there brought the Seekers toward Highertower from the south, and after ascending through a canyon roadway up from Oilwell Basin, they crested a hill that gave them a good look at what they’d be dealing with.

The tower certainly lived up to the legend. That sheet metal spire was a legitimate skyscraper, dwarfing everything in the region in height if not girth. Wind’s Gasp? No comparison. The Rocket League Arena? Nowhere near. Noctis, a town built up into a mountain? Close, but no cigar. It was comical in its repetitious simplicity, especially since the only means of ascent seemed to be ramps around the outside, but it was apparently sturdy enough to withstand a collision with a Ficsit freighter. This zone, perched on the precipice of Empty Space, had always been a hotspot for conflict, but with Ficsit’s scavenger hunt ongoing, it looked a lot more like an actual warzone.

There were dozens of psychos camped out everywhere, identifiable by their minimalist orange attire, white masks, and ramshackle weaponry. They wielded all kinds of guns, as well as machetes and saws fused together from scrap. Opposing those gangs were all kinds of soldiers and mercenaries, entrenched in a ceaseless war of attrition. Everyone was fighting over a dozen entrenched stockpiles, capturing and then attempting to extract Ficsit loot via payload while keeping the other factions at bay. The various factions weren't making much progress, since any time one got close to extracting a payload, the others tended to gang up on it. Big team battles were going down farther away from Highertower itself, with cars, trucks, and tanks all going at it in vicious bursts, then limping away to lick their wounds and prepare for the next round. Over everything blazed the purple light of a nearly-full Flame Clock, attached imperiously to Highertower itself. In this place, both danger and opportunity abounded, promising a rich payday to those who picked their fights wisely.

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Smash Bros Crossover)

Dead Zone Hinterlands - Curien Mansion Courtyard

Harry’s @Eviledd1984 Amaterasu’s @DracoLunaris Chosen Undead’s @Simple Unicycle Level 11 Big Band (24/110)
Word Count: 1468

“HM!” The moment Band regained his feet, mere inches away from the partner in crime of the zombie he’d unceremoniously dropkicked, the undead wretch lunged for him. All it got for its efforts, however, was a mouthful of beige cotton gabardine so densely woven it barely even tore. It couldn’t even get its infectious jaws around the detective’s broad metal frame, much less bite off a pound of flesh. Of course, Band barely even noticed–while normally one to respect the dead, he hadn’t the slightest bit of pity for corpses like these. He had already crouched down, and now two trombone slides shot out like straight punches to soften the hapless cadaver up. Then, while it tried to catch its balance, Band unleashed a massive tuba that walloped the zombie with a heavy slam, then blasted it away in giblets with a deep, almost flatulent blast of sound. BWAAAAAAMP!

With the first two shamblers taken care of, Band took a quick look around to check on the others. He did not expect to see a medieval knight, well-armed and armored, expertly decapitating a zombie as he approached the embattled detectives. The stranger didn’t look like a member of Martira’s guard corps, so Band could only assume him to be some sort of drifter or sellsword. Either way, he clearly knew what he was doing, so while he didn’t think he needed help against rabble like this, he wasn’t going to object. “Hello yourself, sir knight!” He called back, a tone of mild, metallic amusement on his voice. “Knock yourself out, but don’t go thinkin’ you’re gonna get paid for it!”

The far bigger surprise, as it turned out, was the Icebreaker. After ditching a few articles of clothing, he unveiled a hidden blunt instrument and drowned out the zombies’ ravenous groans with an almost bestial wail, as if his very soul had given vent to its turmoil. He then vaulted over Band -a very impressive feet given their height difference- and charged straight into a mob of zombies with reckless abandon. Holding back nothing, he went to town with an onslaught of brutish bludgeoning and theatrical special techniques, as if working his way through all the signature moves he’d ever seen on the silver screen. It was a jaw-dropping display, especially because his nonsensical fighting style somehow seemed to be working. Zombie after zombie fell to his feverish assault, astounded by feats of acrobatics that not even Band could emulate. Taken aback, the cyborg could only glance over at Amaterasu to confirm that she was seeing this too, only to release a burst of helpless laughter when he found the wolf as slack-jawed as he was. That settled one thing, at least: that this wolf was at least as smart as a person.

Amaterasu didn’t just stand idly by and gawk, though. When a couple zombies came at her, the first few seemed to fall apart on her own, and for the stragglers the white wolf unleashed a handful of unnaturally agile kicks. Not once did she attempt to use her canines’ crushing biteforce like a normal wolf might, perhaps sensing the deadly contagion lurking within these monsters’ failing frames. Band nodded his approval, his expectations thoroughly exceeded. In fact, he was sufficiently distracted by Amaterasu’s antics that he didn’t react to another zombie coming his way until it had already pounced, sailing through the air with claws extended.

Of course, Big Band wasn’t one to be caught unawares. He tilted his body and extended two halves of a titantic tambourine to catch the wretch mid-leap in its vicelike clasp. Once he’d caught his prey, Band rattled the instrument, shaking the zombie to its bones with the reverberation. “Beat…Extend!” Stricken by Sound Stun, the monster felt nervelessly from Band’s grasp, a sitting duck for a definitive double honk from his bike horn. Its head popped, and Band disdainfully scattered its ashes as it slumped to the ground. “Hmph! Deadbeats!”

By then, the combined efforts of the detectives, the dog, and the plate-mailed interloper had put the little horde to route. Whether or not the zombies had ever been alive, they were definitely dead now. As the action dwindled, however, Band became aware of some stomping noises that were quickly getting louder. He turned toward the front doors of Curien Mansion, brows furrowed, and a moment later they burst open to admit a huge multi-limbed horror, a brute seemingly fused together from multiple corpses. Band inhaled sharply, then stepped forward, his stance wide. Two Brass Knuckles deployed from beneath his coat, and with his head tucked in, Band put up his dukes. “Stay back this time, y’all. This one ain’t goin’ down to cartoon super moves or puppy paws!”

The juggernaut roared, its chains and armor pieces clanging normally, but when it stopped the rumbling kept going. When he realized where the new sound was coming from, Band blinked, then looked back over his shoulder. Through the gates thundered a war machine the color of barley corn, its design somewhere between a tank and a high-tech train. Green lights shone all over its chassis, and as the turbine in the front of the vehicle rotated faster and faster, the same light built up inside. For a second Band thought it was going to shoot at him, but the Atom adjusted its aim and belted out a gigantic green laser. It smashed into the abomination and melted it away, blasting what remained back through the mansion’s front door to leave the whole entrance in shambles. Then, just as quickly as it came, the beam disappeared, and the train came to a stop. A hatch on top popped open, and none other than the big, muscular gray conductor Stein climbed out. The sight of the others’ stunned expressions brought a big grin to his face. “You guys look like you’ve got something to say. Maybe…’wow, thanks for the save Mr. Stein, you’re so cool!’ …Somethin’ like that? Heheh!”

His daughter, Tesset climbed out beside him. “Um! Is everyone o-okay?”

“...Uh huh.” Band shook off his bemusement and raised an eyebrow at the unexpected pair. “Just wonderin’ why ya’d go to the trouble, after what happened in the Friendly Arm.”

Stein hefted himself out of the Atom, landed on the ground, and turned to help Tesset down before patting the dust off casually. “Well, after hearin’ that you’re out to solve the missin’ kids’ case, I couldn’t turn a blind eye.” He patted Tesset on the head, prompting her to adjust her hat with pretend indignation. “Not with a kiddo of my own, y’know? So with my help, I figured findin’ this Heismay guy would be a cinch.”

Band nodded, his internal opinion on Stein shifting from ‘jerk who loves his daughter’ to ‘good day with a tough exterior’. “We probably had it handled, but thanks. Monsters like these ain’t much of a challenge, but…” He narrowed his eyes, kicking at a nearby pile of ashes. “Urgh. Sometimes it feels like I can’t go anywhere without the dead rising.”

Stein crossed his arms, a wry smile on his face. “Whaddya expect, comin’ to the house of the dead?”

“You sayin’ this place got some kind of resident evil?” Band gave the newcomer the side-eye.

He shrugged. “Just sayin’ there’s probably evil within.”

“Yeah,” Band turned back and began to approach the front door. “I bet there’s evil within, too.”

He led the way toward the yawning, dark opening that Stein’s laser left in the front of Curien Mansion, with the man himself plus Harry in tow. The wolf could do as she pleased, and now that Kit knew what his new acquaintances were up to, he could make introductions and tag along if he liked as well. Tesset retreated back into the Atom and locked it up to provide support from afar as the team set out to explore the mansion. With the light of day behind them, the newcomers could look forward to plenty of dark rooms, tall bookcases, and nooks and crannies where any number of unknown entities could be hiding. Finding Heismay in here would be like finding a needle in a haystack, and there was no way the fugitive hadn’t heard all the commotion. Still, Big Band was determined to see the expedition through.

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Smash Bros Crossover)

<Snipped quote by Lugubrious>

How good of a time to join are we talking? Been peeping in every once in a while... have no idea what's ACTUALLY going on but, keep coming back and thinking about this. So curious if you think you're too full up or not!

@Sadu

It's a pretty good time, and our roster is never full. To make long story short, game characters from various worlds have been thrust into a mishmash World of Light, and it's up to them to defeat Galeem's guardians in order to challenge and overthrown Galeem itself. And on the way, we do all sorts of things like scavenger hunts, dance-offs, cosmic horror, and kart racing. If you're interested in trying, we'd be happy to have you.

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Smash Bros Crossover)

Paved Wilderness - Eastern Road

Lvl 15 Ms Fortune (59/150) and Chucho the Polterpup
Roland’s @Archmage MC Therion’s @Yankee
Word Count: 1702

As much as the prospect of a high-octane joyride through the Paved Wilderness made Nadia want to put the pedal to the metal and speed out of Hammerhead in style, tires screeching and engine roaring, a good thief knew when and when not to make a scene. Plus, she didn’t want to give that little guy the wrong impression; she’d be returning this dune buggy once her scavenger hunt was over, maybe with a made-up story about how she’d followed the actual culprit behind the theft and taken it back in hopes of a reward, maybe not. She wasn’t the type to steal willy-nilly from people who didn’t deserve it, after all. And she couldn’t exactly blame a guy for shooting his shot with a gal like Gemma, no matter how vertically challenged he might be.

But once Nadia put Hammerhead in her rear-view mirror and hit the open road, with nobody but her ghostly pooch in sight, the feral couldn’t help but go a little wild. “Let’s go, Chucho! Wooooooooooo!” She floored the gas, hollering in exultation as the wind on her face caught her hair and ears. Even her polterpup, incorporeal though he was, had to chomp onto part of the rollcage and hold on for dear life as his lower half flapped like a flag. It took a few moments to get used to the dune buggy’s handling and powerful suspension, but luckily the highways east of Hammerhead weren’t exactly congested, and what was life without a few heart-pounding near misses? Once Nadia got a feel for the vehicle, though, she was cruising along with ease, purring almost as loud as the motor. This whole region was like a massive sandbox, and with her shiny now toy Ms Fortune felt like a little kid on Christmas morning.

Her plan was simple. She figured that since the Ficsit carrier originally crashed against and went down around Highertower, that area would be the most hotly contested. And for now at least, Nadia didn’t feel like fighting anyone if she couldn’t help it. In fact, while actually finding anything from the wreck would be a sweet bonus, the feral mostly just wanted to have fun driving around until she found somewhere to chill. To that end, heading somewhere far from the crash zone but still vaguely in the hauler’s original flight path made sense, and the mention of unique wildlife around Scorched Gorge caught her interest, so that was her current destination.

As it turned out, she wasn’t the only one headed in that direction, either. After a few minutes mostly spent focused on the road ahead and figuring out how to control her ride, Nadia noticed another car consistently occupying her rear-view mirror. After squinting for a better look, she realized that it was none other than Roland behind the wheel, with her fellow thief Therion along for the ride. “Oh, hey!” An idea popped into Nadia’s head, and she pulled over, waving out the window for Roland to do the same. “Hey! Wanna race?” she called to him over the rumble of their engines.

The well-dressed man waved back. "Oh sure. I'm headed to that Refinery, so we'd probably need to figure out a finish line before then. But it sounds fun."

“Alright, you’re on! Don’t come cryin’ to me when you lose, though. This kitty’s built for speed!” She put a hand on her polterpup’s head and rubbed it. “We’ll go on Chucho’s third bark, okay?”

Once the two were ready, Chucho bowed down, wagging his tail. “Woof! …Woof! …WOOF!”

Engines roared, tires spun, and the race was underway. Both vehicles launched forward with appreciable acceleration thanks to their Dragon engines, but since they both featured the same amount, their top speed turned out to be the same, so for a couple miles the racers were neck-and-neck. Ever the mischief-maker, Nadia bumped Roland’s car with her dune buggy a couple times, but she didn’t actually want to hurt him or Therion of course, so she never got too frisky. With the sun almost directly overhead Nadia couldn’t tell which direction she needed to go, so she stuck to the highway. Doing so made it easier to drive, but it also meant that, aside from the occasional vehicle that she and Roland needed to avoid, the race wasn’t actually that eventful. At the very least, the rocky red badlands that formed their race track were beautiful in their own way, with all kinds of cacti and vulture-picked skeletons resting beneath the monolithic spires and mesas.

After a while, the race naturally petered out as a result of taking too long over a somewhat monotonous track not designed with entertaining competition in mind. Nadia did spot what looked like actual racetracks here and there, including one with bright blue tarps stretched out between megalithic fossils, and one that ringed a huge quarry complete with giant industrial excavators, but she didn’t feel like muscling in on the competition. Just past the quarry, her route took her through a series of canyons and archways lines with strange machines, but after that it was nothing but straight road for a while as she drove between a river and a large plateau. Getting bored, Nadia allowed Roland to pass her and her eyes to wander. After only a couple moments, she did spot something intriguing in the sky. What originally looked like a high-altitude fireworks display wound up being a dogfight between three old-fashioned airships, covered in rigging, plated in armor, and suspended from unusual balloons. One seemed almost stationary, dangling like a castle tower beneath a balloon like a huge globe, outfitted with enough heavy weapon emplacements to cover every angle. It seemed to be holding off the other two, a light but speedy Goldfish that was more of a distraction than a threat, and a heavier Galleon with three balloons and a bevy of cannons. The two ships seemed intent on outmaneuvering the formidable Spire and taking it down through hit-and-run tactics, but Nadia couldn’t tell if it was working.

As she gawked, the Galleon got too impatient and tried to take a shot from a risky position, opening it up to a broadside from the Spire. A huge chain-explosion went off in the sky, and the airship began to go down. Nadia was so intent on the battle that she forgot to keep her eyes on the road until Chucho gave an alarmed bark. Alarmed, she looked back in time just in time to see a strange green creature in the road, something between a turtle and a penguin. It was ugly in a cute way, and it stared at its impending doom with big, round eyes. Time seemed to slow down for Nadia as her adrenaline spiked, a look of horror spreading across her face. Her first instinct was to cut the wheel as hard as she could, so the next second she swerved away from the critter and sailed right off the road.

Dust and pebbles went flying as she spun out, whirling down the roadside slope until her buggy splashed right into the water. With her head literally still spinning, Nadia was too dizzy and disoriented to do anything until Chucho grabbed one of her ears to stop it, by which point her vehicle had begun to float downriver. “Aw, damn it!” she groaned, trying the pedals and the wheel to no avail. Her engine only sputtered, already waterlogged. As the water rose above her ankles, she sighed, then climbed out of the window and on top of the car. She scanned the riverbanks, but couldn’t see Roland’s truck anywhere. Had the Fixer left her behind? Well, even if she’d forgotten about picking up Massachusetts’ rigging, she could get to safety pretty easily. If only that didn’t mean giving up her car…

While the feral wondered if either of her strikers could be used to save the dune buggy, Nadia the loud sound of a truck horn broke her concentration. She looked back at the road to find a red-and-black semitruck with distinctive tusks. The window was rolled down, revealing a young but tired-looking face, as if the driver had just been asleep at the wheel. “Hey,” she called out, her barely-raised voice almost inaudible over the engine. “Ya need a hand?”

“I’m good!” Nadia crouched down, pressurizing the blood in her legs, then rocketed into the air. She used Charge to cover the rest of the distance, rematerializing on the shore with a sad backward glance at her dune buggy as it floated off. Chucho floated down next to her with a sympathetic whine, and Nadia sighed again. “Easy come, easy go…”

The truck driver scratched the side of her head as she peered at the blood trickling down Nadia’s legs. “You sure you’re fine…?”

“Uh-huh!” Nadia turned, her tail flicking behind her, and crossed her arms. That girl looked way too young to drive, but Nadia wasn’t exactly in a position to talk right now. “Uh, do you know the way to Scorched Gorge?”

“Mm-hm…” The truck driver yawned. “Just a couple miles from here. Hop in, I’ll take ya.” She pulled a lever, and the side of the truck began to lift up. Inside was a mobile saloon-style bar, complete with vinyl stools and all kinds of liquor, strapped tight to survive the highway.

Nadia didn’t need to be told twice. “Thanks!” With Chucho in tow she jumped aboard, then settled in for the rest of the trip. She was not looking forward to the look on Therion’s face when he found out what happened. Maybe he doesn’t need to know.

Paved Wilderness - North-northeastern Road

Edward’s @DracoLunaris Blazermate and Sectonia’s @Archmage MC Zenkichi’s @MULTI_MEDIA_MAN Juri’s @Zoey Boey

Compared to the territories to the east and northwest, the terrain to the north of Hammerhead seemed pretty unremarkable at first blush. It featured a few sandstone bluffs and towering wind-carved pillars, but for the most part, the interior of the Paved Wilderness was wide open and flat, dominated by hardy yellow grasses and tall cacti, with only a few withered trees. Here and there one might spot a giant anthill, grassy crag, or herd of wild horses or buffalo, but the ecology here wasn’t as varied or interesting as the Windward Plains to the west, and this area didn’t seem as favored by racers as those to the east, either. This went on for miles and miles and miles, and judging by how far away Highertower had been from Hammerhead on the map, it would go on for many more.

There were a few elements that broke up the monotony, though. Scattered around the grasslands, especially closer to Hammerhead, were a number of little hovels and roadside attractions. Most seemed to be the result of continuous construction over time, cobbled together from different materials and styles as the original structure was expanded upon. Some, little more than shacks roofed by corrugated sheet metal, seemed to be abandoned, with threadbare, sun-faded garments dangling limply from old clotheslines. Others bore signs of habitation, like the inn known as Dieter Restaurant and a three-tier cafe bolted to a white stone villa. Nobody sprang out from these houses or hailed incoming travelers; the residents only watched in peaceful silence as drivers -or fliers- passed them by. The farther the Seekers got, though, the less frequent these structures became, until all that remained was the rumble of the road, the wind in the grass, and white clouds in the blue, blue sky. For a solitary driver, the experience might be meditative–or just really, really boring.

Eventually, though, that all changed. As the five approached the same latitude as Outback, the terrain suddenly got rockier, and the flora more alien in appearance. The lowlands took on an unhealthy greenish tinge, and sulphuric fumes arose from the bogs therein. Given the propensity of the region around Outback for bizarre wildlife, perhaps some of the adjacent biome’s strangeness was seeping through. Either way, things were about to get more interesting. As the travelers rounded a bend, they beheld an enormous, six-wheeled ultra-heavy vehicle. At ninety feet tall and two hundred twenty five feet long, it was mammoth in size as well as name, and it even sported an enormous rotating cannon on its back. Unfortunately, that starship-buster was in fact too big to deal with its current problem.

A mechanical roar like no engine Juri had ever heard resounded from the ridge above her as she drove past, and the next second a Chopper flew overhead. It resembled a bike, but dragged by two enormous, crushing wheels in front rather than propelled by one from behind. It soared overhead, then slammed down on the other side of the road and began to take potshots at the Mammoth with the cannons mounted on either side of the wheels. Brutally but clumsily designed, the Chopper could only shoot in the direction it was facing, so the ghastly pilot had to turn in order to aim. A moment later, another Chopper cruised in, followed by some kind of sled that cruised along with the aid of anti-gravity technology as the gunner on its mounted turret took aim. These reinforcements joined a band of Bloodmounts and Reavers already attacking the Mammoth, which was just now lowering its doors to deploy a green LAV equipped with four wheels, two treads, and a machine gun, followed by two four-wheel Centaur tanks with cannons. A fierce battle quickly erupted within the boggy canyon, threatening everybody in the area whether involved in the skirmish or not.

Of course, all this was no surprise to Edward, whose drones had scouted out the area and the brewing conflict beforehand.

Paved Wilderness - Northern Road

Pit’s @Yankee

For a few minutes, it seemed like Pit’s optimism would lead him to disappointment. Most people around Hammerhead were very busy, either working on other people’s vehicles or preparing for their next trips across the wilderness. Given the ongoing event quest, most of the truckers, bikers, drifters, and hunters here were slow to trust, wary of any competition and sabotage that might interfere with their next payday. Local transport services were rather expensive today as well, with everyone eager to cash in on the big search. Fortunately, even if most of the Seekers had already driven, flown, or teleported away, Pit had one friend at Hammerhead that he could depend on. The screech of brakes caught his attention as a familiar-looking vehicle ground to a halt behind him, and when Pit turned he spotted none other than the Minotaurus, with Nico at the wheel and Nero riding shotgun, just like before. “Hey, kid,” the devil hunter hailed him with a wave. He knew that Pit wasn’t a kid, but couldn’t help using it as a term of endearment. “You up for another ride? No timefall this time, I hear.”

“Better haul your feathery butt in here then, if so!” Nico called with a grin. “‘Cause I’m fixin’ to peel outta here whether you’re buckled up or not!”

Within minutes, the gunsmith’s van had left Hammerhead in its dust. Given the northern highway’s proximity to the road chosen by Juri, the first leg of Pit’s journey was much the same as the martial artists: yellow prairie interspersed by ramshackle cottages and time-worn waypoints. With a variety of songs on the radio and good company, though, the drive was much less tedious than it would have been for a lone rider. And the farther the team traveled north, the more the land began to differentiate itself from the road to Hightower out west. For one, there were some race tracks. Pit could watch a handful of Excitebots tearing up Wario’s Gold Mine. and after passing by Dingo’s Diner, they caught a glimpse of the Dingo Canyon to the east, its water glittering in the afternoon sun. There were roving bands of treasure hunters as well, some of which also employed Excitebots to great effect. While none of them seemed overtly hostile, tensions continued to rise as the minutes ticked by, and eventually the reason became clear.

After a while, Nico brought the Minotaurus over a ridge and into a broad valley. Both she and Nero spotted something in the distance right away, but neither could quite tell what they were looking at. It looked like a giant circus tent with a large crane or something protruding from the top. The two friends exchanged a glance, then returned to their examination, wary but curious. After another thirty seconds, though, the unknown structure had gotten close enough that Nero could not only tell what it was, but that it was moving, too. It was a giant circus tent, carried on top of unfathomably huge tank treads, much bigger than the crawler-transporters used to launch space shuttles, big enough that the Minotaur could fit underneath the chassis with room to spare. At the end of the crane’s arm there was an enormous clown head, perpetually on fire, and in its jaws it held a huge chunk of the Ficsit carrier, no doubt full of recovered loot. It was Sweet Tooth’s Carnival of Carnage, and a major step up from what the clown offered when the Seekers first visited the Paved Wilderness.

“Holy cow!” Nico swerved off the road, heading for an outcrop of rock to conceal the Minotaurus from whatever lookouts were aboard the CoC. She and Nero had encountered their fair share of huge foes, but this thing was leagues above, and could be carrying hundreds of men or deployable vehicles as well. There was plenty of cover in this valley, but getting around the CoC as it rumbled south would be quite the task.

Nero shook his head, an incredulous look on his face. “Sure, a vehicular stealth mission. Why not.” He raised his eyebrows at Pit. “You’ll make this up to us later, right kid?”

Paved Wilderness - Western Wilds

Junior and Rika’s @DracoLunaris Geralt’s @MULTI_MEDIA_MAN Roxas’ @Double

When not overtaken by a season of Fallow, the Windward Plains were a place of great natural beauty, as well as impressive biological diversity. As populous and visible as the pangolin-like Ceratonoth herds were, they were really just the tip of the iceberg when it came to the creatures that intrepid explorers could find in the region. From smaller forms of endemic life such as the birdlike amstrigans and yellow-bellied tracktail lizards all the way up to large predators like the colorful Brute Wyvern Quematrice with their loose scaly flaps and burrowing Balahara leviathans, there were critters to suit almost any kind of fancy. There were even a few wild Pokemon, like Cranidos, Shieldon, Dunsparce, and even refugee Tropius from the Land of Adventure. For the Koopa Kids, however, this region’s charms proved unremarkably mundane, and it wasn’t long before they set their sights to the north.

The arid region to the north represented an even greater level of geological and biological variety, practically to the point of abnormality. Its yellow sands lay atop relatively thin layers of rock visible in canyons and valleys, where their differently-colored strata created a rainbow of color amidst flat, circular mineral deposits arranged like sections of a terrace farm. Pearlescent spherical formations could be found around the area at random, impossibly dense and heavy. What appeared to be bonelike corals revealed themselves as Articulated Angstoks when small prey animals like Trebhum or Tetracrabs drew too near, rapidly growing and branching their husks until fanged maws could protrude and snatch their food and slowly drag it back to the main organism underground. Angstoks weren’t the only dangers here, though, since hideous Tonglegrops could spray viscous, sticky acid, and . And of course, the freakish Great Gaaahrs towered over everything, and avocado-stalks loomed in the distance.

The Outback’s surprises didn’t stop there, though. A number of debatably edible items could be discovered throughout the area, either readily available or hidden away. Only through trial and error would visitors learn that these foodstuffs could spark sudden mutations, each more or less useful in some way. Against all odds, the newcomers could also find a couple pokemon here, albeit atypical ones like Lickitung, Cradily, Rellor, Naclstack, Brambleghast, Revavroom, and Sandy Shocks. Finally, beyond all that, lay the derelict outpost that had failed to outcompete Hammerhead as a truck stop, with even its name fading into obscurity in the wake of its owners’ ill-fated venture. Still, its water tower and windmill evoked some small sense of bygone majesty, as if still trying to measure up to the Great Gaaahrs and avocado trees.

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Smash Bros Crossover)

Dead Zone Hinterlands - Wooded Slope

Harry’s @Eviledd1984, Level 11 Big Band (21/110)
Word Count: 1285

A few seconds passed after Harry replied, quiet except for the wind through the forest’s leafy boughs, occasional spurts of birdsong, and the gentle babble of the stream. At that point it became apparent that the detective wasn’t keen to say much else on the subject, so Band turned his attention away from his new acquaintance to resume his uphill trudge. He’d intended to spice up the rather glum mountainside foray with a little casual conversation, but with the way Harry clammed up at the mention of his old partner, Band felt no need to try and pry further. The cyborg didn’t mind the quiet, after all; if Harry felt like talking, then the Icebreaker could break the ice.

Not long after that, the two had an unexpected encounter. While in Martira, Band had heard his fair share of nervous murmurs about wandering zombies, wild beasts, and ravenous sandworms from the townsfolk, so he’d been more alert throughout the journey so far than it might seem. Even then, the sudden appearance of a white wolf took him by surprise. Graceful yet deadly, the predator emerged in near-silence, blowing out of the treeline like a flurry of winter snow. Still, while the sight surprised Band, it didn’t necessarily alarm him. Having not seen a wolf in the flesh before, he hadn’t realized just how much bigger they were than dogs, but the creature still didn’t hold a candle to him. Should the worst come to pass, he felt very confident in his abilities to defend himself, but right away he realized that such measures shouldn’t be necessary.

This wolf was, after all, not hostile–that much was immediately clear. Its body language was relaxed, upright, and undefended, with no sign of aggression or fear. It could have ambushed the two men at top speed, but instead it approached at a carefree lope, friendly as a dog. For a wild animal this was undoubtedly strange, but then again, Band had seen all sorts of strange things in the World of Light. If a cat could cook a pot roast, a wolf could be a friend. Only a moment after the critter arrived, Band relaxed as well, a smile in his eyes as he gave the wolf a genial nod. He had no reason to suspect that it was sentient, but a friendly wolf was special, so he’d treat it with respect. “Hey there, li’l one,” he greeted Amaterasu, watching Harry. He expected the man to be a lot flightier about a wild animal than a five thousand pound cyborg like him, but the Icebreaker reacted pretty well. He offered the wolf a hand to sniff, a nickname, and then a hat. “If you wanna tag along, be my guest.” He tilted his head in the direction of the stream, then turned to continue onward.

After a few more minutes of travel, the unlikely trio found themselves closing in on their destination. Up ahead, the wooded slope evened out, then gave way to high stone walls. At least two stories tall, they towered over everyone, Big Band included, and though festooned with moss and ivy they looked very formidable. Hesitant to pit his mechanical might against such solid stone, Band led the others in a minutes-long search for the actual entrance. He could see what must be Curien Mansion itself looming large over the walls in the distance, so he guessed that the main gate must be opposite, and his hypothesis proved to be correct. A gap in the stone brick turned out to house a huge, elaborate gate of gothic wrought iron, all buckled up in various chains and padlocks. Band deployed a spindly mechanical arm to grab one of the bars and give it a good rattle. Though the gate made a lot of noise, it barely budged, and after it stopped clanking Band gave an impressed whistle. “Whoever did this sure didn’t want anyone gettin’ in. Or out.” If Heismay could scale Martira’s walls like Morris said, though, these defenses probably posed no challenge for him. He looked back at Harry with an eyebrow raised. “How’s your lock-pickin’, Icebreaker?”

Regardless of Harry’s reply, he spun back around, his trench coat flying open. From within his mechanical body extended a gigantic fist of black steel, brass tubes, and nickel-silver pipes. Pressurized gasses hissed and screeched, propelling the Brass Knuckles forward with pneumatic strength. One massive punch was all it took to bash through the chains and blow the wrought iron gates wide open with a tremendous cacophony of crunchy metallic reverberation. Busted chain links scattered noisily over the cobblestone pathway ahead, and then there came an ominous, heavy silence–until the newcomers heard the moans.

In front of them lay a massive courtyard, huge to the point of absurdity, with multiple layers of wrought-iron fences within, enclosing wilted flowerbeds, twisted dead trees, and mosaic plazas. Frog-mouthed gargoyles squatted grotesquely around fountains full of scummy, fetid water, while the channels beneath the arched footbridges seemed even worse. At a word, this place looked dead, which also aptly described its denizens. Right away Band’s eyes were drawn to sudden movements, only for them to roll when he saw what he was up against: zombies. They came in all shapes and sizes, in various states of decay and undress, but that all shared that familiar lifeless stare, that unnatural pallor, that maniacal gait. About a dozen of them were in the process of converging on the newcomers from all directions, their groans and growls getting louder.

Band heaved a sigh, much more annoyed than afraid. “Figures.” Judging by his reaction, Harry could probably infer that this wasn’t his fellow detective’s first rodeo. Band widened his stance, his tone sharp and authoritative as he took on a more menacing appearance. “You just a normal guy, right? Better stand back and let me handle these chumps. I was built for this, literally.” He didn’t expect Amaterasu to understand him, but hopefully the wolf could sense the danger she’d followed him into and would know to stay away. “Whatever you do, don’t let ‘em bitecha. Don’t want ya spoilin’ on me before payin’ back that cash you owe, eh?” He was joking about the money, but when it came to the undead, Band was deadly serious.

“...Impression!” Band started the fight by deploying a giant drum pedal that slammed the ground hard enough to shake it, knocking the two nearest zombies off their feet with the tremor. He then used Brass Knuckle again to slide across the ground toward them, only to cancel the ride with Emergency Break. One zombie had cracked his decrepit ankle bones as he fell, keeping him down longer, and when the other fought its way to his feet he found Band looming over him. “Hot socks!” Band clocked the creep in the knee with a smaller drum pedal, then brought his other leg forward with a knee strike that popped out a trombone for extra kick. “Bee’s…knees!” Finally, he hopped up just high enough to deliver a massive (if clumsy) drop kick that sent the zombie soaring into the derelict fountain in pieces. “...Lay BACK!” He landed on his back, but a burst of sound energy from his pipes allowed him to bounce off the ground and straight into the face of the second zombie to keep the pain train rolling.

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Smash Bros Crossover)

All those changes have been made, boss.

As for the Black Eye Orb, I figured if we ever get to Irithyll past Sen's Fortress it could be used there to fight Lautrec and fulfill Kit's mission to avenge the Firekeeper of Firelink Shrine. If you would prefer not to have that happen I can just remove it from his inventory.

@Simple Unicycle

That's fine! With the rest of those changes made, Kit is good to go.

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Smash Bros Crossover)

Just a few notes. One, the amount of charges on his Estus Flask should be reduced to 5, but can be kindled up to 15 for his current life by spending humanity. He won't be dying here as often as in his game after all, since that would block participation in a lot of fights. Two, we could probably expand Undeath to include the last place he had a long rest and not just bonfires, since those aren't a consistent world element. Three, abilities should include related numbers, so changing 'allies' to 'up to three allies' would be more explicit. Is that all fine?

Also, how do you envision the black eye orb would be used in this game?

World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Smash Bros Crossover)

<Snipped quote by Lugubrious>

I should be able to keep up with that commitment! I'm thinking of playing the Chosen Undead from Dark Souls who got plucked and thrown into the World of Light right after first arriving in Anor Londo. As for who I'd join, probably the team at the paved wilderness.

@Simple Unicycle

Sounds like a plan to me. Right now, the Wilderness crew is at (or near) Hammerhead, and my update tomorrow will introduce one new area (Outback) as well as lead into a week of driving to their destinations. Your character could be at Hammerhead, at Outback, at another destination, or somewhere on the road to another destination, meaning he'd meet other characters en route.